Wal-Mart Agrees to Give Women Extra Time to File Lawsuits

July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. agreed that
women planning to sue for sex bias after a group lawsuit
representing more than 1 million workers was rejected by the
Supreme Court should get an extra 90 days to file their cases, a
lawyer for the company said today.

Theodore Boutrous, Wal-Mart’s attorney, told a federal
judge that the company isn’t opposed to “start the clock
fresh” on potential gender-bias claims that were blocked from
being filed while Wal-Mart challenged the legality of the group
lawsuit, the largest private gender-bias case in U.S. history.
Lawyers for workers are seeking to extend the filing deadline by
120 days.

“Our position has always been that people should get their
day in court,” said Boutrous after a hearing in federal court
in San Francisco today. He said it’s unclear how many women
would actually file lawsuits.

Brad Seligman, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in an
interview today that he has been contacted by thousands of women
since the case was first filed more than 10 years ago.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said he would rule
within a day or two about whether to give potential plaintiffs
until Oct. 20, the date favored by Wal-Mart, or Jan. 16, the
date favored by lawyers representing current and former workers,
to file new cases.

June 20 Ruling

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, won a ruling June
20 that threw out certification of a gender-bias lawsuit
representing as many as 1.5 million current and former female
workers. The court said the plaintiffs failed to prove Wal-Mart
had a nationwide policy that led to gender discrimination.

The group lawsuit was first filed in 2001, and the filing
of any new individual gender-bias claims by women covered under
the group case was put on hold. Now that the group, or class-action, case has been disbanded, the hold has been lifted.

By law, a plaintiff generally has 180 days from the date of
discrimination to file a lawsuit. If a state or local agency
enforces a law that prohibits discrimination on the same basis,
a claimant has 300 days.

The case is Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, 01-2252, U.S.
District Court, District of Northern California (San Francisco).